


summer

by cirrus (themorninglark)



Series: Sportsfest 2018 [8]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Endless Eight AU, F/F, Gen, Sportsfest 2018, Time Loop AU, Training Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 16:27:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15123377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themorninglark/pseuds/cirrus
Summary: “Ah,” says Alisa, with a quiet sigh. Her voice is soft, just loud enough for Saeko’s ears, for Saeko’s stomach to give a tiny lurch when she hears what she says. “I’ll be lonely next year without you, though.”Saeko and the girls in a time loop, at forever the same training camp week.





	summer

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sportsfest 2018 Bonus Round 1: Time and Place | [originally posted here](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/7464.html?thread=590888#cmt590888)
> 
> this one makes more sense if you know Suzumiya Haruhi's Endless Eight, but can otherwise just be read as a simple time loop AU.

**_friday._ **

“Are you sure you’re okay being here with us, Saeko-san?”

“Saeko- _neesan_ ,” Saeko corrects on reflex. She raises her beer to her lips and takes a long drink.

“Saeko-neesan,” Yachi murmurs. Her hands are wrapped around a can of orange juice. They look smaller than ever, peeking out the sleeves of her oversized pajamas.

Saeko glances over from the corner of her eye, over the rim of her can. Yachi Hitoka still wears those blue stars in her hair, that bright-eyed tremor in her voice, but she is standing on her own two feet this year and they are her boys now. Karasuno. Her little brother. _Their_ boys, and they’re leading some kind of brand new charge. In the distance, she thinks she hears the beat of drums echoing.

 

**_friday._ **

That night, when Saeko leaves Yachi chatting with Kaori, she slings a casual arm round Alisa’s shoulders and takes her to the nearby _izakaya_. To her delight, it turns out Alisa can drink all of them under the table. Ukai is so beet red he’s had to go out for fresh air and a smoke, and Takeda’s on the verge of passing out.

“It’s nice not being the only girl at these ‘dos,” Saeko declares.

Alisa’s eyes are dancing, and that’s the only hint she gives that she’s been drinking since sundown. There isn’t even a hint of pink in her cheeks. Saeko wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, slams her empty can down on the table, and lets herself tip over to lean on Alisa’s arm.

“Ah,” says Alisa, with a quiet sigh. Her voice is soft, just loud enough for Saeko’s ears, for Saeko’s stomach to give a tiny lurch when she hears what she says. “I’ll be lonely next year without you, though.”

 

**_friday._ **

She hears the drumbeats at the _combini_ , and she’s sure they’re not coming through the speakers, which are tuned to the local sports channel. There’s a baseball match recap on, the hum of cicadas in surround sound from the trees, a bicycle bell that rings out from across the road.

The cans in her plastic bag go _clink, clink_. Orange juice for Yachi, beer for herself, and an assortment of sweet drinks for the other girls, chocolate milk and Calpis and white peach soda. As she walks past the _izakaya_ , there’s a strange sense of _deja vu_ that hits her, an image of herself leaning on Alisa’s arm with Takeda sprawled out on the floor—

Saeko shakes her head, smiling. _As if._

She takes her time with the lemon-flavoured lollipop in her mouth, tries to make it last as long as possible. Like these summers, it melts far too quickly.

 

**_friday._ **

Yachi’s hands, wrapped around a can of chilled orange juice, look smaller than ever peeking out the sleeves of her oversized pajamas. “Are you sure you’re okay being here with us, Saeko-san?”

“Saeko- _neesan_ ,” Saeko corrects on reflex, raises her beer to her lips and takes a long drink.

“Saeko-neesan,” Yachi murmurs.

“You want me to go?” Saeko asks, with a teasing smile.

Yachi shakes her head so hard she nearly spills juice on the floor. “No! But, I mean, you don’t have to keep me company just because Shimizu-senpai isn’t here anymore…”

“I could bring Alisa drinking, huh,” Saeko laughs, a throaty laugh that bubbles up from deep inside, as she imagines Alisa drinking with the men; Alisa with the complexion of a _matryoshka_ doll and probably the constitution of one as well. It’s a sight she’d like to see.

That _deja vu_ hits her again, and she hears herself saying it out loud, _deja vu_ , and Yachi blinks up curiously. Saeko glances over from the corner of her eye, over the rim of her can. Without Kiyoko, she is standing on her own two feet now. She still wears those blue stars in her hair, and her eyes are bright, and she will be here next summer when Saeko isn’t.

To an echoing rhythm that haunts these sultry nights and her dreams, Saeko lets out an exaggerated yawn and says, “Eh, it's my last night at one of these camps. Maybe I’ll stay here a little longer.”

 

**_saturday._ **

When Saeko wakes up, her head’s pillowed at the base of Yachi’s futon, Alisa is curled up at her side, and the breaking of the morning is startlingly clear. She sits up slowly, presses her hands to her temples. _No hangover._

_6 AM on Saturday_ greets her from the screen of her phone. In two hours, everyone will be packing up the last of their stuff, and they will exchange their fistbumps and trash talk in the carpark, and Saeko will bundle Ryuu and Yuu and their friends into her van and they’ll have one last road trip up north, singing till their voices go hoarse.

“Okay,” she murmurs, clenching a fist close to her heart. “I’m ready.”

In the distance, she hears the beat of the drums fading, a youthful memory in her bones.


End file.
